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Bloomsbury Publishing PLC | |
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List Price: £6.99
Our Price: £1.63
Author:
J.K. Rowling
By Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather wand and jellybeans that come in every flavour, including strawberry, curry, grass and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard yourself! This is exactly what happens to young Harry Potter in J K Rowling's enchanting, funny debut novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In the non-magical human world--the world of "Muggles"--Harry is a nobody, treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of wizards, small, skinny Harry is renowned as a survivor of the wizard who tried to kill him. He is left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, curiously refined sensibilities and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he's quite, yes, altogether different from his aunt, uncle, and spoilt, pig-like cousin Dudley. A mysterious letter, delivered by the friendly giant Hagrid, wrenches Harry from his dreary, Muggle-ridden existen...
 One of the best novels I read in a long time, 2010-02-20
For a first novel, I have to say that J K Rowling really knows how to glue her readers to her story. The characters are believable, the story is just excellent, especially the miror of erised chapter which is probably one of the best in the whole series.
Not only is it a great book, but we get to see how Jo Rowling started plotting her whole series and we get to see all the little clues and details that eventually not only influence the future books, but also important elements coming back in the last chapters of the series.
A great beginning for a great author.
List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £6.46
Author:
Elizabeth Gilbert
By Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
 Fun and smart! Consciously Committed!, 2010-03-03
After enjoying Eat, Love and Pray, I was very happy to see the second part come along. Funny, realistic, deep and thorough. The author covers marriage from multiple perspectives and reconciles with it in a very candid and entertaining way that keeps you hooked until the very end. Good reading for someone who is looking into getting married again or for the first time...
List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £7.88
Author:
Ben Macintyre
By Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Gripping yarn, 2010-03-08
This has always been a great story; concerning the most successful intelligence hoax of the 2nd World War. This is the most up to date version containing facts unavailable to earlier tellings. It is such an amazing story that it would take a really bad writer to spoil it. Ben Macintyre is an excellent writer and the result is a real page turner. The sheer jaw dropping audacity of the operation and the delightful carachters involved render this book unputdownable. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a thriller and who will appreciate the story all the more because it is true and had such a wonderful result in that so many lives were saved in the Italian campaign.
List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £9.49
Author:
Patti Smith
By Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Where friendship and art meet., 2010-02-02
This is an interesting memoir, especially for fans of Mapelthrope or Patti Smith. For the younger generation who may not be familiar with these two names. Maplethorpe was a photographer with a style that was recognizable no matter his subject (he died of AIDs in his early 40s in 1989) and lets just say he wore his homosexuality proudly (for more on mapelthorpe I recommend Mapplethorpe: A Biography). Smith is the poet singer song writer often referred to as the grandma of punk rock and an activist for many causes to this very day. In this Memoir Smith writes about her relationship with Maplethorpe in the late and early 1970s before they became famous. I thought it was fascinating to read about these two icons before they realized who the were or wanted to be. Its hard not to think of Smith as a poet rebel, guitar in hand or Mapelthorpe as the in your face artist, but Smith's book takes the reader back to when both were "Just Kids." You see Smith and Maplethorpe as young people, not always secure in who they are, groping to find their passions that were burning inside but not fully understood. In this memoir Smith also presents a picture of a New York that no longer exists, and that alone makes this wonderful reading. Not all song writers can successfully write lyrics as well as prose, Smith though has a gift with the written word that is transcendent. Heart felt and honest, like her music, I highly recommend this book. For more honest reading concerning Hollywood Icons in the 1960s I have to recommend "Misfits Country."
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £3.00
Author:
Elizabeth Gilbert
By Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Eat Pray Love, 2010-02-22
This was my choice for my book group - 6 great women all in our 30's. Although I am not quite finished it yet, I am really enjoying it. I know the others are too. Great true tale by a Elizabeth Gilbert and her search for peace and happiness. Like every good book, no doubt I will miss it when I'm finished. I already have a queue of people who want to read it after me!!
List Price: £25.00
Our Price: £12.35
Author:
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
By Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
River Cottage Everyday, 2010-03-07
This is an excellent cookery book, beautifully presented. Easy to follow recipes to create the unusual. Fantastic introduction to each section of the book, with ethical aspects suggesting which choices of ingredients to use. It has introduced new and exciting recipes to my repetoire.
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £2.25
Author:
Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
By Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Brilliant!, 2010-03-11
Absolutely loved this book. It takes a very serious topic and a would-be grim setting of post war Britain and deals with it seriously, but at the same time lightheartedly, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The descriptions of characters and their actions leave you laughing, crying, outraged - all the emotions that are evidence of a book touching your heart. Now all I need is a plane ticket, so I can go and see that Island that I already adore for myself.
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £2.57
Author:
Khaled Hosseini
By Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
The Kite Runner of Khaled Hosseini's deeply moving fiction debut is an illiterate Afghan boy with an uncanny instinct for predicting exactly where a downed kite will land. Growing up in the city of Kabul in the early 1970s, Hassan was narrator Amir's closest friend even though the loyal 11-year-old with "a face like a Chinese doll" was the son of Amir's father's servant and a member of Afghanistan's despised Hazara minority. But in 1975, on the day of Kabul's annual kite-fighting tournament, something unspeakable happened between the two boys.Narrated by Amir, a 40-year-old novelist living in California, The Kite Runner tells the gripping story of a boyhood friendship destroyed by jealousy, fear, and the kind of ruthless evil that transcends mere politics. Running parallel to this personal narrative of loss and redemption is the story of modern Afghanistan and of Amir's equally guilt-ridden relationship with the war-torn city of his birth. The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner begins in the final days of King Zahir Shah's 40-year reign and traces the country's fall from a secluded oasis to a tank-strewn battlefield controlled by th...
Superb novel..., 2010-02-19
This novel is an absolute great. You get really into it from the start and do not want to put it down because it is both sad and uplifting with lots of emotion. You chart the life of a young Afghan's childhood, and later his life in America. Hosseini has really written a classic here. I would reccomend it to anyone aged 15 or over.
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £1.99
Author:
Khaled Hosseini
By Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, 2010-02-11
I would have to argue that this is one of the best books I have ever read and the first book that has left me in tears at the end.
The story is beautifully written throughout and chronicles the lives of Mariam and Laila; two Afghan women from different backgrounds who are brought together under tragic circumstances. I liked how Hosseini structured this book, by first dedicating a part of the book to each character, and then when brought together, telling the story from the perspective of each in turn. Also, interwoven throughout the novel are political incidents which have profound impacts on the lives of the characters involved. The later chapters of which deal with events witnessed in my own lifetime; the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha's and the terrorist attacks in New York. This gave me a sense of the suffering that that these two women could very well have been facing during my own lifetime, which was both thought provoking and profound.
This is a story of loss, acceptance, friendship, sacrifice, hope and love marred by a backdrop of violence, both socially and politically. At times the violence and repression that these two women, and indeed other characters, endure is harrowing, but its through this violence that the most heartwarming of friendships blossom. To me the ending really brought about a sense of both tragedy and triumph.
A thought provoking book that made me grateful for what I have and who I am and one that will stay with me for a long time after.
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £3.21
Author:
Liz Jensen
By Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
A flippin good read!, 2010-02-15
I am not going to say much, only that it is unputdownable. A great read from start to finish!
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